The invention relates to a slide cushion to absorb shock and to support conveying belts, in particular at transfer points, with at least one lengthways extended base plate and at least one supporting plate, in which case the base plate consists of a sliding surface layer and at least one elastic shock absorption layer.
When coarse pieces of bulk material are transferred to a conveying belt from loaders, the corners of the material either press the conveying belt down considerably and thus damage it or the impact forces are absorbed by the rollers supporting the conveying belt, which are usually arranged at specific distances from one another and which are damaged in this manner and must therefore be replaced regularly.
Precisely because in the area of the loading of bulk goods, the edges of a conveying belt sag so that it is difficult to seal the undulating contours of the conveying belt over against the rigid loader by means of an elastic skirt, the lower edge of which must follow this changing contour.
The problems discussed can be solved by the conveying belt's being supported from below by an elastic system which absorbs shocks and which steers the conveying belt. Such shock absorbing and supportive systems can also be employed to cushion shocks of any sort directed against a solid base plate. For example, a supportive system consisting of elastic material with a rigid surface capable of sliding of the prior art is described in the pamphlet, GUARDABELT, BARRES D'IMPACT, from the Martin Engineering Company. In this case metallic tracks are attached to the base plate either by vulcanization or molding or the base plate is glued to or vulcanized onto U-shaped metal tracks, which envelop the rigid, lengthways oriented frame construction which bears the conveying belt and which is attached to this at the sides. The attachment of this elastic base plate to the supporting plate is very complicated. The elastomer-metal combination also leads to difficulties during its production or the structure can break apart during operation.
Supporting plates or attachment tracks that are firmly embedded in the base plate have a considerable height so that they can hold the bolt head required in the assembly. This height increases the total height of the slide cushion considerably. As a result, a high consumption of elastomer material is also involved. By means of the differing capability for deformation of the thinner middle and thicker edge zones that the base plate may display, the bearing capability is distributed unevenly. Due to this, there is, on the one hand, an irregular abrasion and, on the other hand, a differing temperature load.
Furthermore, the base plates can under no circumstances be removed and the supporting plate can only be detached from the side or from underneath, so that it is not possible to mount a slide cushion over a large surface that is accessible respectively only from the front or the side.